View source for Madinatul Uloom Bagbari

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Madinatul Uloom Bagbari
| other_names = Darul Uloom Bagbari
| image = 
| caption = 
| established = {{start date and age|df=yes|p=y|1873|02|01}}
| type = [[Madrasa]] and [[Islamic university]]
| religious_affiliation = [[Islam]]
| founder = [[Najib Ali Choudhury]]
| principal = [[Maulana]] Abdul Mannan<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=মদিনাতুল উলুম বাগবাড়ি মাদ্রাসার ১৪৬ তম বার্ষিক অনুষ্ঠান আগামী ১ফেব্রুয়ারি|url=https://www.tarangabarta.com/madinatul-uloom-bagbari-madrasas-146th-annual-festival-will-be-held-on-1st-february/|work=Taranga Barta|language=Bangla|date=2019-01-29|access-date=2020-02-16|archive-date=16 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216221058/https://www.tarangabarta.com/madinatul-uloom-bagbari-madrasas-146th-annual-festival-will-be-held-on-1st-february/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| dean = 
| students = 
|coordinates = {{Coord|24|47|16|N|92|25|37|E|display=title}}
| city = Bagbari
| province = [[Karimganj district]]
| state = [[Assam]]
| country = [[India]]
}}

The '''Madinatul Uloom Bagbari Najibia Alia Madrasa''' ({{langx|ar|المدرسة العالية النجيبية مدينة العلوم بباغباري}}) or '''Madinatul Uloom Bagbari''' (also known as the '''Darul Uloom Bagbari'''<ref name="Khan2012">{{cite news|last=Khan|first=Bazlur Rahman|date=2012-05-25 |title=Madrasa Education System in South Assam|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/3700-madrasa-education-system-in-south-assam-india|work=[[The Milli Gazette]]|access-date=2020-02-04}}</ref>), is a [[madrasa]] located in [[Assam]], [[India]]. It is the oldest [[Islam]]ic educational institution in the [[South Assam]] region.

==History==
It was founded in 1873 by the eminent Islamic scholar [[Najib Ali Choudhury]]. Tradition states that while living in [[Mecca]], Choudhury was visited in a dream by the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]], who instructed him to return to his homeland and spread religious education. The madrasa was established in Choudhury's own home, in the village of Bagbari near [[Karimganj]], and was officially named in his honour. It remained in this location for nearly a century, shifting to its present site in 1969 under the tenure of the then ''muhtamim'' (principal), [[Maulana]] Ashab Uddin.<ref name="Rahman2009">{{cite book|last1=Rahman|first1=Md. Matiur|last2=Bhuiya|first2=Abdul Musabbir|title=Teaching of Arabic language in Barak Valley: a historical study (14th to 20th century)|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/92871/7/07_chapter%203.pdf |year=2009|publisher=Assam University|location=Silchar|pages=59–60, 101}}</ref>

Modelled after the famous [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] (which had been established only a few years earlier), the Madinatul Uloom Bagbari was the first true madrasa in the region, having offered a standardised education in contrast to the informal institutions which had existed previously.<ref name="Khan2012"/> It initially provided courses up to "Shar-e-Jami", with the [[Academic degree|degree-level]] "Dawra-e-Hadith" course also being introduced after 1992.<ref>{{harvtxt|Rahman|Bhuiya|2009|pp=60, 74}}</ref>{{NoteTag|The names of the courses refer to the main texts then studied by students, with the latter also being known as the ''[[al-Sihah al-Sittah]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Riaz|first=Ali|authorlink=Ali Riaz|title=Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUIEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA245|year=2008|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4562-2|pages=122, 245}}</ref>}}

==Reputation==
Over the course of its history, the Madinatul Uloom Bagbari came to play a very prominent role in producing [[Arabic language]] scholars in the Greater Sylhet region, a reputation it maintains to the present-day.<ref name="Rahman2009"/> The madrasa currently contains an [[Arabic]] epigraph from 1509 that denotes the construction of a mosque in Surjyadas village by Sher Malik, an officer of the [[Sultan of Bengal]] [[Alauddin Husain Shah]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mitra, Pratip Kumar|title=An Inscription of Sultan Ala al-din Husain Shah from Cachar, Assam|journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society|publisher=[[The Asiatic Society]]|volume=53|year=2011}}</ref>

==Staff==
Najib Ali Choudhury's descendant Abdul Bari Choudhury, was appointed as the principal of Madinatul Uloom Bagbari in 1948 after returning from his studies at [[Darul Uloom Deoband]]. In the same year, his great-grandson [[Abdul Munim Choudhury]] was made the first Shaykhul Hadith (Professor of Hadith). Among Choudhury's other descendants is Jamil Ahmad Choudhury, who is a teacher at the ''madrasa'', as well as Saeed Ahmad Choudhury and Abdul Ahad Choudhury, who are members of the executive committee.<ref name=tajul>{{citation|author=Qasemi, Ataur Rahman|publisher=Madinatul Uloom Bagbari|editor=Choudhury, Tajul|title=একটি উজ্জল ইতিহাস|language=bn|year=2021}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Deobandi madrasas]]
[[Category:Madrasas in India]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1873]]
[[Category:Islamic universities and colleges in India]]
[[Category:Karimganj district]]
[[Category:Islam in India]]
[[Category:1873 establishments in India]]